


it's not the world but that's okay

by soulas



Series: assholes save the world [2]
Category: Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, also how fucked is all that laying off at buzzfeed :(, some weird coffee shop au, this is kinda incoherent but i miss my colim, we're back baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 18:19:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17606483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulas/pseuds/soulas
Summary: You'd think that saving the world would get you fame and glory and riches and the odd hot person wanting to bang you.What Steven's really left with is a sarcastic cat and a knack for procrastinating his physics homework.





	it's not the world but that's okay

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sad that ben's gone from buzzfeed :(

After Steven saves the world with Shane and Annie, his life goes disappointingly back to normal. He applies for college and signs up for an engineering course and settles into his new dorm life. His group chat with Shane and Annie only exists in 3 am bursts, suddenly flooding his phone with terribly taken selfies and hundreds of texts talking about the most random shit.

He wakes up. Goes to the gym. Attends his classes. Visits the library and studies. Goes back to his room. Lies on his bed and watches cooking videos until he falls asleep.

 _Can you stop moping_ , Andrew complains one day.  _It’s making me dimmer._

Steven sighs and turns over in his bed.

 _This is sad._  

 _I am sad_ , Steven thinks.

Andrew doesn’t say anything for a while, and Steven assumes he fell asleep, but then the cat says firmly,  _Okay, tomorrow we’re going out._

_-_

_At least go off campus_ , Andrew says, staring into Steven’s face irritably. Steven groans and shades his eyes from the strip of sunlight that’s falling on his face. 

_Just because I’m hungry and there’s no good food on campus right now._

They end up at one of those small coffee shops that inevitably spring up by colleges like mushrooms after the rain, predictably kitted out with worn, mismatched furniture and old wood framework and only semi-decent coffee despite the hipster vibes it oozes. 

When Steven approaches the counter to order, he suddenly becomes dangerously aware that the last time he spoke to another human being was three days ago when he talked his lab partner. And the last time he spoke to someone who wasn’t his classmate was when he called his mom a week ago. 

“What can I get for you today?”

Steven coughs and succeeds in stumbling through his order with a rusty voice, all while managing to avoid eye contact. 

The cashier asks him for his name and swipes his credit card. Steven makes it back to his table with his sandwich and coffee.

 _Wow, good job_ , Andrew says, and there’s only a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

 _I really do need to get out more_ , Steven thinks, a little dejectedly.

Andrew’s purr vibrates in his chest and resonates comfortingly against Steven’s neck.  _You did good, Steven._  

Two days later, they’re back at the little cafe, and Steven is determined to do better.

Smile. Make eye contact. Speak at a normal human volume. Of course the minute it’s his turn to order, something happens to disrupt the naturally impersonal flow of ordering food. 

“Hey,” the cashier says with a wide smile. “Steven, right?”

Steven is momentarily fazed. Do they know each other? Are they in the same class or something? Why is he speaking to him like that? Why is he smiling? Why does his heart do weird flips when he says his name?

“Uh,” is what comes out of his mouth before the Smart™ part of his brain takes over (granted a full ride scholarship, enrolled in the honors program, etc).

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, do I know you?”

The cashier is still smiling that bright smile and Steven’s heart is still confusedly fluttering. “Nah, I served you last time? You probably don’t remember. I’m Ben.” 

“Hey.” Steven swallows. “Um—”

“I’ll just take your order then,” Ben says, his smile softening into something that really makes Steven’s heart rate shoot up somewhere into the stratosphere.

Steven orders his food and manages to return to his table without additional issue. 

 _Jesus, you okay?_ Andrew asks, amused. 

_Yeah. I’m fine._

Steven goes back to the cafe a couple more times, but he never sees Ben again. He’s not disappointed. ( _Liar_ , Andrew says accusingly.)

He’s walking to class one day when something out of the corner of his eyes catches his attention. He turns and sees Ben, standing surrounded by a bunch of other students, laughing and slapping each other on the back. Steven recognizes a couple of them as members of some upperclassmen frat house. He sniffs.  _Well, that’s that_ , he thinks, a little sadly. 

 _Hey, just because he’s hanging out with some frat guys doesn’t mean anything_ , Andrew says.

Steven shoulders his backpack and continues walking to his class. _Yeah, but it’s not exactly encouraging_ , he thinks.

He doesn’t go back to the cafe for a while after that, lapsing back into his little schedule of mundanely fulfilling his responsibilities.   
_Stop being such a little sad boy and go and find him_ , Andrew grumbles. 

 _Who?_  Steven thinks, although since they are literally mentally connected he knows exactly who Andrew is talking about.

 _Dumbass_ , Andrew hisses, and refuses to talk to him for the rest of the day.

Steven’s walking around town one day when he finds himself standing in front of the familiar cafe. He rubs the back of his neck and Andrew butts his head playfully, nudging him forward. Steven opens the door. He blinks, getting used to the dim atmosphere, and attempts a casual glance towards the counter where Ben’s wiping down the cash register. Ben looks up when he approaches. “Steven!” he says, smiling. “Haven’t seen you in a while, man.”

“Hey, Ben,” Steven says. “Yeah, I. I’ve been kinda busy.”

“Oh, I feel that. What can I get for you today?”

Steven actually manages to complete his order and seat himself with his tray of food without causing anything that might set his heart pounding. That is until Ben slides into the chair across from him. Then his heart proceeds to go nuts.

“Hey,” he says faintly. 

Ben smiles at him. “Hey,” he says back.

A beat passes and then Ben starts talking again.“If I were to ask you to dinner,” Ben says, his eyes twinkling with a smile. “What would you say?”

“Uh,” Steven says. Andrew’s claws nick the back of his neck. “Um.” 

His brain is only short-circuiting a little, which is a miracle in and of itself. He registers that Ben is very nice and has a smile that very clearly does Things to Steven’s heart and also that he would really like to go out with him. He also registers that the last set of friends and significant others he had in high school were caught up in a supernatural war that lasted for a good year and that almost took many of their lives. Because of him.

“Uh, there’s something you should know,” Steven says. “Before. Before I answer.”

Ben raises an eyebrow, curious. “Fire away, Steven.” (Steven melts a little bit at the direct use of his name; he’s a weak, easily touched romantic, okay.)

(And god, is he really going to do this? Expose the most secret part of his life, the one that he was specifically told not to?)

Steven’s heart is pounding really fast and he doesn’t really have control over his mouth right now. “Just so you know,” he says in a rush. “My last boyfriend was like, not cool with it. So.”

Andrew stifles a laugh.  _What boyfriend?_

This is a good point; Steven has never dated another guy before. Unless you count that one time Shane’s blind date stood him up and he just texted Steven the restaurant’s address, the time of the reservation, and two poop emojis. Which. Most people wouldn’t.

But Andrew probably picks up on the fact that Steven’s freaking out about a junior guy he’s talked to maybe three times asking him out on a date because he soothingly rubs his face against Steven’s neck.

Ben leans back in his chair. “Okay, hit me with your worst. Sleepwalker? Weird kink? Into threesomes? Because, for the record, I don’t consider that last one a drawback.”

Steven face is flushed when, before he loses his nerve, he blurts out, “I have a spirit animal. and not like. In an abstract way. My family is psychic and I have an actual ties with the ethereal and sometimes maybe the people around me get dragged into it. So, um. Yeah. Feel free to leave anytime now.” His hands are shaking a little bit and Andrew curls around him. 

 _Nicely done_ , he says affectionately, without a hint of sarcasm.

Ben leans over and catches Steven’s hand, entwining their fingers. “Steven. That is like, the least strange thing I’ve ever been told by a date, okay? I once dated this girl who thought she was the reincarnated Princess Diana. I have startlingly high tolerance for people usually considered ‘weird.’” He brackets the word in air quotes. 

“You’re not…like, freaked out by it?” Steven asks suspiciously.

Ben shrugs. “My grandma was real into the tarot cards. She’d read my future like, at least once a month. Usually? It happened like how she said it would. I’m not too skeptical of the supernatural.”

“Huh.” Steven thinks this over. Then in a sudden burst of confidence he says, “I’m going to kiss you.”

Ben is grinning. “Please do.”

And it’s probably a good thing that they’re in public because if they weren’t, Steven has a feeling Ben’s hands would be wandering a lot lower than they are. Andrew makes gagging noises and Steven can feel his face burning when someone whistles loudly at them. 

“Tuesday night, at that Italian place down the road? I’ll pick you up.”

 Steven’s still a little dazed, out of breath both emotionally and physically. “Sure. Yeah, okay.”

Ben laughs and kisses Steven’s cheek. “God, you’re so cute.”

-

That night, Steven lies in his bed late, too wired to fall asleep. 

 _This is crazy_ , he thinks. He can’t stop smiling for some reason.

Andrew makes a grumpy noise.  _Let me sleep._

Steven turns over in his bed. His clock reads 3:02. He takes out his phone and opens the group chat called “the shitbags who saved the world.”

Guess what, he types.

Shane and Annie are both shocked, incredulous, and terribly impressed.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://sovnly.tumblr.com/)


End file.
